SAN FRANCISCO / Sureño gang's threat growing in Bay Area / Widow's apartment is at heart of group's Mission District turf

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 27, 2005

The Sureño gang, whose members allegedly took over an octogenarian widow's apartment in San Francisco's Mission District, is an increasingly violent menace in the Bay Area, police and gang experts said.

Some street gangs operate for profit. But Bay Area Sureños -- though they sell drugs, steal cars and attack and rob people -- primarily care about gaining respect and dishing out disrespect to rival Norteños, authorities said.

Although the case of 84-year-old Ellen Gutierrez is unusual, the experts said it highlights the devastating impact of gang culture on a community such as the heavily Latino Mission District.

Police have said the alleged Sureños found in Gutierrez's apartment -- which was in the heart of what is considered Sureño turf -- used lookouts to spread the word when social workers or police arrived.

"What's important about it is that criminals who have a gang culture that supports them use that culture to get away with crimes," said Tony Brass, a prosecutor in the gang violence unit of the San Francisco district attorney's office.

There are few statistics on the number of crimes committed by Bay Area Norteños and Sureños. But Lt. David Cavallaro, who heads the San Jose Police Department's gang investigations unit, said he has seen a trend toward younger members and an increase in the intensity of violence.

The killing of 18-year-old Humberto Gutierrez in Pittsburg in December is among the scores of recent Bay Area cases that authorities believe is related to the feud. After Gutierrez switched allegiance from the Sureños to the Norteños, police said, a 19-year-old woman from his former gang shot him dead.

Sureños, or southerners, and Norteños, or northerners, are offshoots and loose affiliates of two Latino prison gangs that have been at war since the late 1960s.

Typically, Norteños in Northern California are the children or grandchildren of immigrants, while Sureños are newer arrivals. They wear blue and claim the number 13 because "M" -- for the prison gang Mexican Mafia -- is the 13th letter of the alphabet. Norteños wear red and claim the number 14 for "N" -- standing either for Norteños or la Nuestra Familia, the Mexican Mafia's rival.

The importance of the colors and numbers is difficult to overstate. Police say scores of innocent Bay Area residents have been beaten or even killed in altercations that started because they were wearing red or blue. San Jose officials recently asked some retailers to stop selling clothing and gear favored by gang members.

In a recent twist, some Norteños have taken to wearing blue and some Sureños red. A Norteño might wear a baby-blue jersey from the University of North Carolina because it includes the word "North," while a Sureño might wear a red shirt or jacket by the clothing designer South Pole.

To many authorities, the rivalry between the two gangs appears to be based on nothing more than members' identity.

"It's the Hatfields and McCoys, and they've been at it so long they don't even know why they're shooting at each other anymore," said Sonoma County sheriff's Lt. Matt McCaffrey, who oversees the county's gang task force and agreed that the Norteños and Sureños are becoming increasingly violent.

McCaffrey said he often gets the same response when he questions a Sureño about his motive for a violent act: "He's a Norteño."

In an effort to scale back the gangs, authorities and community groups such as California Youth Outreach in San Jose -- which employs former gang members trying to steer others away from crime -- are focusing on younger and younger children. Outreach programs are aimed at children as early as fifth grade.

In the Mission District, Sureños and Norteños typically sell marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, commit robberies and steal cars, police say. Victims are often illegal immigrants targeted because they're afraid to seek help from authorities, said Clyde Livingston, a San Francisco juvenile court counselor.

Brass said the primary group of Sureños in San Francisco hangs out on 19th Street, near where Gutierrez lived on Mission Street.

There are Norteños groups centered at 22nd and Bryant streets and along 24th Street. The groups don't try to take over each other's turf, but instead work to disrespect it. Tactics include everything from graffiti to drive-by shootings.

Brass said young people join gangs because "they have a group that's loyal to them and supports them in doing things that are easy. If we have a mission, it's to show another side to that."

But Antonio Arenas, a case manager at the Carecen Second Chance Tattoo Removal Program in the Mission, said the gang problem is an "immigration issue" that demands increased services and mentoring programs for young people, even if they are in the country illegally.

Some came to San Francisco without their parents, he said, or fled war- ravaged places. Others are addicted to drugs.

"The streets are providing that support system, whether it's money, a place to stay or social support," Arenas said.

He called violence between Norteños and Sureños "self-hate," saying, "The poverty has made us hate each other."

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